Half-centuries from Mithali Raj and Poonam Raut gave India Women a consolation nine-wicket win over West Indies Women in Sylhet. A win would have meant West Indies finished top of the Group B table. Instead, they finished behind England by virtue of net run-rate, and will therefore face Group A toppers Australia in the first semifinal on Thursday.

Having chosen to bat first, West Indies lost Kycia Knight to the first ball of the match, lbw to Shubhlakshmi Sharma. Stafanie Taylor then steadied the innings in Deandra Dottin's company before she was out for 17 after a 61-run second-wicket partnership. Dottin was next to go, for a 51-ball 54, with West Indies' score 87 in the 15th over.

From there, the innings failed to gather any momentum, and West Indies lost four more wickets to finish on 117 for 7. Seamers Shubhlakshmi, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami shared four wickets between them, while spinners Poonam Yadav and Archana Das took a wicket each.

The target proved far too easy for India to chase down, and they nearly did it without losing a wicket. Raut was out for a 52-ball 56, having struck seven fours, with the scores tied. Mithali, India's captain, was unbeaten on 55 off 52 balls, with six fours, when Smriti Mandhana came in and struck the winning boundary with 14 balls remaining.

Just silly for West Indies to not field their best team. Means they have to play Australia in the semis which is not good. Always try to maintain your winning momentum and field your best 11. They will regret this poor move

Vijay_P_S
on April 2, 2014, 16:52 GMT

@yohandf, Losing to B'Desh says it all. BTW it was not a 2-0 series as you are touting but a 2-1. Each team had a comprehensive win and the other was a close game.

avani
on April 2, 2014, 12:01 GMT

@Mahendra Sapa, to get audience support the game should become popular. It is the responsibility of ICC, BCCI to make it popular. Today I searched all over the net to see if I can get live streaming of Women's T20 WC matches but in vein. No where it is available. Without enough proper publicity and live streaming how can women's cricket draw audience? Also these matches are scheduled at the same time and place where men's WC is going on! Bad indeed.

yohandf
on April 2, 2014, 3:38 GMT

@ Inspector_Clouseau - SL women team may be weak but at least not against India . We thrashed your women team 2-0 in T20 s in India . So beating them here is a formality . But at the end of the day sad that neither of Asian teams got to semi s .

BoxOchocolates
on April 2, 2014, 3:15 GMT

India did not make it because only 3 of their 6 bats are performing, namely Raj, Harmanpreet and Raut. The others have been failing. Numerous openers have failed to a point that Raj had to step in to take that slot.This has been the story over the past year.

Vijay_P_S
on April 1, 2014, 19:49 GMT

Girls, where was this fire before? You lost to a weak SL team. We could have easily been in the semifinals otherwise. No matter, just keep improving. Looking forward to the adventures of a fighting Ind women's team.

on April 1, 2014, 19:38 GMT

I support Nampally. To add, not only BCCI but even the audience need to support and cheer our Women team.

Raj Mithali has been consistently doing very good service to team India. Many congratulations to her.

Nampally
on April 1, 2014, 17:59 GMT

It is sad that Whilst India beat WI so easily, it is the WI who finished above India to qualify. Had the Indian team got into this winning form earlier India could have easily finished on top. Raj once again showed what a dominant bat she is. This was her 3rd 50 in the recent matches. She did it again with a S/R of over 100. India's elimination was clearly due to lack of match practice. They have 3 wins in the last 3 matches. If only BCCI had given Indian Women's Team an opportunity to play more matches, they would have qualified easily for the last 4. Clearly after beating WI so easily, this team did not deserve to be eliminated!

on April 3, 2014, 11:32 GMT

Just silly for West Indies to not field their best team. Means they have to play Australia in the semis which is not good. Always try to maintain your winning momentum and field your best 11. They will regret this poor move

Vijay_P_S
on April 2, 2014, 16:52 GMT

@yohandf, Losing to B'Desh says it all. BTW it was not a 2-0 series as you are touting but a 2-1. Each team had a comprehensive win and the other was a close game.

avani
on April 2, 2014, 12:01 GMT

@Mahendra Sapa, to get audience support the game should become popular. It is the responsibility of ICC, BCCI to make it popular. Today I searched all over the net to see if I can get live streaming of Women's T20 WC matches but in vein. No where it is available. Without enough proper publicity and live streaming how can women's cricket draw audience? Also these matches are scheduled at the same time and place where men's WC is going on! Bad indeed.

yohandf
on April 2, 2014, 3:38 GMT

@ Inspector_Clouseau - SL women team may be weak but at least not against India . We thrashed your women team 2-0 in T20 s in India . So beating them here is a formality . But at the end of the day sad that neither of Asian teams got to semi s .

BoxOchocolates
on April 2, 2014, 3:15 GMT

India did not make it because only 3 of their 6 bats are performing, namely Raj, Harmanpreet and Raut. The others have been failing. Numerous openers have failed to a point that Raj had to step in to take that slot.This has been the story over the past year.

Vijay_P_S
on April 1, 2014, 19:49 GMT

Girls, where was this fire before? You lost to a weak SL team. We could have easily been in the semifinals otherwise. No matter, just keep improving. Looking forward to the adventures of a fighting Ind women's team.

on April 1, 2014, 19:38 GMT

I support Nampally. To add, not only BCCI but even the audience need to support and cheer our Women team.

Raj Mithali has been consistently doing very good service to team India. Many congratulations to her.

Nampally
on April 1, 2014, 17:59 GMT

It is sad that Whilst India beat WI so easily, it is the WI who finished above India to qualify. Had the Indian team got into this winning form earlier India could have easily finished on top. Raj once again showed what a dominant bat she is. This was her 3rd 50 in the recent matches. She did it again with a S/R of over 100. India's elimination was clearly due to lack of match practice. They have 3 wins in the last 3 matches. If only BCCI had given Indian Women's Team an opportunity to play more matches, they would have qualified easily for the last 4. Clearly after beating WI so easily, this team did not deserve to be eliminated!

No featured comments at the moment.

Nampally
on April 1, 2014, 17:59 GMT

It is sad that Whilst India beat WI so easily, it is the WI who finished above India to qualify. Had the Indian team got into this winning form earlier India could have easily finished on top. Raj once again showed what a dominant bat she is. This was her 3rd 50 in the recent matches. She did it again with a S/R of over 100. India's elimination was clearly due to lack of match practice. They have 3 wins in the last 3 matches. If only BCCI had given Indian Women's Team an opportunity to play more matches, they would have qualified easily for the last 4. Clearly after beating WI so easily, this team did not deserve to be eliminated!

on April 1, 2014, 19:38 GMT

I support Nampally. To add, not only BCCI but even the audience need to support and cheer our Women team.

Raj Mithali has been consistently doing very good service to team India. Many congratulations to her.

Vijay_P_S
on April 1, 2014, 19:49 GMT

Girls, where was this fire before? You lost to a weak SL team. We could have easily been in the semifinals otherwise. No matter, just keep improving. Looking forward to the adventures of a fighting Ind women's team.

BoxOchocolates
on April 2, 2014, 3:15 GMT

India did not make it because only 3 of their 6 bats are performing, namely Raj, Harmanpreet and Raut. The others have been failing. Numerous openers have failed to a point that Raj had to step in to take that slot.This has been the story over the past year.

yohandf
on April 2, 2014, 3:38 GMT

@ Inspector_Clouseau - SL women team may be weak but at least not against India . We thrashed your women team 2-0 in T20 s in India . So beating them here is a formality . But at the end of the day sad that neither of Asian teams got to semi s .

avani
on April 2, 2014, 12:01 GMT

@Mahendra Sapa, to get audience support the game should become popular. It is the responsibility of ICC, BCCI to make it popular. Today I searched all over the net to see if I can get live streaming of Women's T20 WC matches but in vein. No where it is available. Without enough proper publicity and live streaming how can women's cricket draw audience? Also these matches are scheduled at the same time and place where men's WC is going on! Bad indeed.

Vijay_P_S
on April 2, 2014, 16:52 GMT

@yohandf, Losing to B'Desh says it all. BTW it was not a 2-0 series as you are touting but a 2-1. Each team had a comprehensive win and the other was a close game.

on April 3, 2014, 11:32 GMT

Just silly for West Indies to not field their best team. Means they have to play Australia in the semis which is not good. Always try to maintain your winning momentum and field your best 11. They will regret this poor move